Recently, my husband and I took our yearly road trip to Kamloops, BC to visit the kids. This time though we planned to go on to Victoria located on Vancouver Island. I have been to many places in this country, but neither he nor I had ever been to the Island as referred to by most BC residents.

Not long before our scheduled road trip I decided that I wanted to learn the art of Photography. I am pretty sure I am not the only person who has decided that Photography sounds like a really good hobby. It seems like everyone nowadays is into photography. I tend to think the mobile phone companies may have had something to do with that and I think they may have done it on purpose.

If so, it was a brilliant idea because now almost everyone who has a cell phone uses it to take pictures and almost everyone has a cell phone. If you are a blogger or a freelance writer you know that good photos are an essential part of your work.

With this in mind I went and bought myself a camera so that I could take better pictures than I could take with my cell phone. I opened up a whole new learning experience for myself as there are lots of things to understand about operating a camera such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO and composition.

There are also some great creative opportunities in photography as well. This latest road trip to British Columbia I refer to as my first travel photo opportunity using the new camera, I managed to take over 300 photos but quite a few of them were not worth sharing.

I have divided them into galleries to try to organize them and I have posted those galleries here. If you have never been to BC, Canada then I hope you enjoy the beauty of that province captured in these photos.

The camera I purchased and used for this trip is a Canon D-SLR Rebel T6, it is not the newest camera available in today’s market but considered a good camera for beginners. I really enjoy using this camera it gives you lots of options with lenses and settings to inspire you and it’s not too crazy expensive.

There are many different types of digital cameras to choose from but I chose Canon because I trust the name more than most although there are others on the market equally as good.

I have started taking CreativeLive’s Fundamentals in Digital Photography with Photographer John Greengo, this is a very in-depth, comprehensive course with 122 lessons including ten bonus questions and ten critiques and covers almost everything to do with the art of photography. So far I am finding the course very enjoyable and informative. I will be giving a full review once I finish the course.

You can also Check Out CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes there you will learn creative skills from the world’s top experts – Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Oscar Winners, and New York Times best-selling authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs. They have over 1,500 curated classes in Photography & Video, Money & Life, Craft & Maker, Art & Design, and Music & Audio, there is something for everyone. You can watch on-air broadcasts for free or buy a class and own the content for life.

This first gallery is some shots I took out of the passenger window and some wildlife we saw along the way. All of the photos were taken in Landscape using the following settings: TV(Shutter Speed) 1/160, Av(Aperture Value) 11, Metering Mode Evaluative Metering, ISO Speed 100, Focal Length 55.0mm.

Since this was my first camera experience I didn’t change any settings except maybe to set the white balance which indicates whether it was cloudy or sunny.

Now everywhere I go is a new photo opportunity and so I am always changing and experimenting with the settings.

This next gallery is some sights in and around Victoria and also some views from the ferry to Vancouver Island.

This group of photos are of the Butchart Gardens in Victoria where each year over 1,000,000 bedding plants in some 700 varieties are on display to ensure blooms from March through October. A beautiful inspiring place.

Next is Fishermans Wharf where we had fantastic Fish & Chips and there are some really quaint float homes there to look at and some pretty views from the docks. Included in these photos are some views from Granville Island towards Vancouver. They have an amazing Market here with all kinds of foods and other goods.

These photos are just a small portion of the amazing sightseeing opportunities which are available on Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of days so didn’t get everything in we would have liked.

I hope you enjoy the photos and please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Are you into photography? What do you find inspiring about it?

Also please subscribe to my blog so that you won’t miss any new updates. Till next time.